And the music world has lost a master this evening. Phil ramone. You may not know his name but you will certainly know the songs he helped create. Once dubbed the pope of pop, he was one of the most respected in the music industry. He worked with the most respected singers of our time, among them paul simon, billy joel, etta james. Born in south africa ramone came to america to study classical violin at new york's juilliard school, but he would later trade his performances for producing, winning 14 grammys, 33 nominations. In 1975, he was behind paul simon's pop classic "still crazy after all these years." &#9834; Still crazy after all these years &#9834; Reporter: He would later team up with billy joel for his breakthrough album "the stranger." They would begin a decade long working partnership. He and joel were both lunatics he once said and for the screeching tires in "moving out" ramone reportedly taped a microphone to the tailpipe of a corvette. Ramone would win record of the year for "just the way you are." &#9834; I want you just the way you are &#9834; Reporter: He was the mastermind behind frank sinatra's duets in 1993, a comeback. The legendary singer never actually sang in the same studio with his duet partners. &#9834; Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum &#9834; Reporter: Ramone would use a fiber-optic system to record the artist singing in realtime together. &#9834; I have got a crush my baby on you &#9834; Reporter: Once telling abc news he had to convince sinatra it would work. I mean, right to the minute before he actually did sing, he said to me, you know, this better work, and I said to him, it's going to work. And he said, it better work. &#9834; The best is yet to come come the day that you're mine &#9834;

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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